We Speak Gaming

Toada Brava Hits 75 Percent of Its Kickstarter Goal With Four Days Left to Back the Hand-Drawn RPG

Published

7 hours ago

November 9, 2026

Hand-drawn gameplay artwork from Toada Brava showing its cartoon Brazilian world and characters in a colorful scene.

Official Steam screenshot from Toada Brava. Photo by Asteristic Game Studio.

Some RPGs ask you to save the world. Toada Brava starts smaller and closer to home, with a little monkey trying to save his mother, and that personal stake is exactly why the hand-drawn adventure is finding its audience. The Brazilian-inspired RPG has now reached 75 percent of its Kickstarter goal, raising over $26,000 toward its $35,000 target with just four days left in the campaign.

Announced on November 9, 2026, the update puts the campaign in its final stretch, with players able to back the project until November 13 at 9 AM PT / 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET / 2 PM BRT. A free public demo is available on Steam now for anyone who wants to try the game before backing it.

Drawing inspiration from classic Japanese RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG, Toada Brava combines Brazilian history, folklore, and music with turn-based RPG gameplay, all brought to life through hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animation. The game follows Kako, a friendly little monkey whose mother is imprisoned after punching the Duke of Santacruz in the face when he attempts to seize their land to mine for gold. Determined to rescue her, Kako breaks into the Duke’s estate, only to be captured and thrown into prison himself. Kako must find new allies and assemble a crew to help him face the threat ahead.

The story is rooted in Brazilian history, exploring themes of colonization, imperialism, rebellion, and popular resistance, and highlighting historical and social issues common to Latin American countries. Its distinctive cartoon world includes characters such as “Junk Rats,” “Krazy Kats” who struggle with alcoholism, and police dogs known as “Beleguins.”

Music sits at the heart of the game. “Toada” is a Portuguese word commonly used in Brazil to refer to a song’s melodic line or a simple tune, and in Toada Brava music can conjure magic and produce powerful effects, with each main playable character using a musical instrument to cast different types of magic. Although it is a turn-based RPG, the game incorporates timing mechanics into its battles, allowing players to land extra hits or block incoming attacks.

Toada Brava was created by artist and animator Mateus Grazina, whose portfolio includes animated series such as Cupcake and Dino and Oswaldo, and is being developed in partnership with Asteristic Game Studio, the studio behind Vengeful Guardian Moonrider and the Dreaming Sarah series. The Kickstarter campaign closes on November 13, and the free demo is live on Steam.

Shardwatch Dominion Turns Tower Defense Into a 360-Degree Siege Around Your Fortress

Published

4 hours ago

November 9, 2026

We Speak Media

Gameplay screenshot from Shardwatch Dominion showing its circular tower defense arena with a central fortress and glowing crystals under attack.

Official Steam screenshot from Shardwatch Dominion. Photo by Brainium Games.

Some tower defense games give you a path to guard. Shardwatch Dominion gives you a fortress in the middle of a circle and enemies coming from every direction at once. The classic top-down tower defense from Brainium Games asks players to protect a central stronghold and its glowing crystals, and every build, every crystal spent and every upgrade chosen between waves decides whether the fortress holds.

Released on October 23, 2026, Shardwatch Dominion is out now on Xbox, PlayStation 5 and PC. Its battles play out on circular arenas, so there is no safe flank and no quiet corner: waves of enemies assault from all sides, and the defense has to hold in every direction at once.

The heart of the game is the trade-off between building and spending. Players place towers around the fortress, dig in with crystal miners to keep resources flowing, and choose which upgrades to take between waves. Archers, walls, spikes, roots, fire and lightning all have a role, but a tower limit means every placement has to earn its place, and every crystal spent on one upgrade is a crystal not spent on another.

That pressure plays out across three environments, grass, desert and wasteland, each framing the same test in a different setting. The wave-based assaults keep coming, and the permanent upgrades earned between waves let a defense grow stronger over the course of a run, rewarding players who plan ahead instead of reacting to the next attack.

It all adds up to a simple pitch from the studio: place, upgrade, defend. Wrapped in a cute hand-drawn cartoon style, Shardwatch Dominion is a compact test of placement and resource management, and it is available now on Xbox, PlayStation 5 and PC.